Not just for black people

It use to really rankle my nerves when white people I encountered, before and after the Martin Luther King National Holiday was established, would imply or state outright, that it was a holiday only for black Americans. I would have to point out…..”No, this a holiday for every American, white people included.” At that point, some of them would offer disingenous responses of,”Sure sure, of course.” But I venture to say there are still a lot of white citizens who are glad to have the day off ..but who view it as a ‘holiday for my black friends and co-workers’. Of course not every white person feels this way.

Now before all of you (especially my blog haters..and I have them) start attacking me, please remember this was my experience. Not yours.

I can remember as a boy following Martin Luther King, Jr. and his efforts for equality in the brutal ‘Jim Crow’ Southern states. My family would watch the black and white images on television of attack dogs and firehoses mauling black citizens who simply wanted to be served at a local lunch counter, or ride the front of the bus. I remember asking my mother if we were going to be attacked like that in New York City. She calmly explained that we were safe as black people in the North. And my parents were inspired by this young black minister who spoke so eloquently, and who was trying to change the quality of life for Southern blacks.

King became a source of pride in many black homes in the 1960’s, but at the same time some of my classmates at my almost all-white Catholic high school would tell me Dr, King wanted ‘too much,too fast.’ Can you imagine? We eagerly watched the ‘March on Washington’ in August 1963..recognizing King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech as something historic. My family beamed as Dr. King became more and more renowned, especially when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October of 1964. Then came that brutal day in April 1968 when he was assassinated, and I felt in my heart, after the traumatic Kennedy assassination, that America was in a dark place that would only get darker two months later. The morning after King’s murder I went to school and overheard some of my white classmates saying they were ‘glad King was dead.’ It was like a knife in my stomach, I remember.

Dr. King’s non-violent fight for freedom was for all people. He wanted changes for blacks, changes for the poor no matter what color, changes for a country that had yet to fulfil it’s promises for all people. His life and legacy continued to loom large in American culture after his assassination. We learned later how the FBI believed King was a communist threat.

Then, after years of planning and some resistence from the Reagan White House, and States like Arizona, the King Holiday went into effect in 1986. The first time an African American received this honor. As a CBS 6 TV reporter ,I attended several King celebrations at the Empire State Plaza in Albany. A wonderful gathering, each year, of people of all colors who embraced the spirit of Dr. King’s life. Lots of fierce Gospel music, performances by young people, and of course..speeches.

To me the holiday is joyous. And we have to remember this man lived and died seeking justice for all of us. Blacks and whites. Dr. King opposed the Vietnam War, he fought for labor unions, better housing for the poor, and for voting rights. I think Dr. King is rolling in his grave as the right wing political movement is trying to make it harder for minorities to vote in parts of the South.

Without Dr. King there would be no Barack Obama in the White House. This man’s life work, his message of non-violence, justice and equality, helped create the America we have today. You can bet there were no black TV newscasters when Dr. King began his marches. The concept of the racially integrated society we have today was considered extremely radical, not only in the South where they saw it as criminal, but also in parts of the North. Think about it. Dr. King, and people like Rosa Parks, are responsible for the ‘blended’ society some younger people take for granted. But given the signs of racial hate still prevalent, America still has work to do.

So on this Martin Luther King, Junior National Holiday…I hope that white people..and black people.. realize the significance, that it’s not just a day for black Americans to celebrate. I think that would please Dr. King.

Dr. King was a true American hero in every sense of the word. He dedicated his short life to helping people of ALL races escape the grinding poverty that many still endure in the US! He stands along with other giants of the 20th century like Gandhi and Mandela in his quest for equality of opportunity and his dedication to serving all of humankind!

Now, we are watching as the Republican right-wing, with the help of the Koch brothers and their oligarchical billions, try to suppress voting and drag the US back to 19th century Russia and serfdom for the 99%!

I wish we had Dr. King to stand up to these misguided reactionaries and call them out for their treachery and their attempts to reverse the progress that has been made.

Thank you for your experience. As a self-identified bi-racial person of red and white ancestry, I celebrate with you. Racism exists in government Policy. Consider that it was illegal for Native Indians to practice their spiritual beliefs –even on reservations– until 1978. I applaud Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I applaud you for reminding readers this isn’t a holiday for “black” people alone. We, as a Nation, still have a very long way to go to. Most people do not even consider our indigenous “red” peoples when we think about racism.

Every MLK Day I watch a broadcast of the “I Have A Dream” speech, and I am always moved to tears at how eloquent and powerful a force the man was. He makes me proud as an American. Although I have always noted how important the holiday is in its significance of honoring a BLACK man, for me, I think of it as a chance to honor a brave, honorable MAN that stood up for the downtrodden at great personal risk. And did so in a peaceful, thought provoking way.
Dr. King had at least another 20 years of activism in him when he was taken from this country. I’m sure he would have done much more for blacks in this country as well as women, the poor of all colors, and immigrants. It is truly OUR loss as a nation that he was gunned down in his prime.

Dr. King also would have been at the forefront of rights for LGBT people including same-sex marriage. He would have offered unqualified support to us starting with the folks involved in the Stonewall Riots 45 years ago. I don’t know if you remember the old Capital Area Coalition for Human Rights–CACHR–as “In The Rye”–sorry pun goes with the acronym. It was an ad hoc program of what is now the Pride Center. We were able to go places as CACHR we could not have as the Gay Community Center. “Human Rights Are For Everyone.” Dr. King would have lent us his support because it’s ALL THE SAME. Human Rights ARE for EVERYONE. “If we deny basic human rights to anyone what is to stop them from denying them to us?” An anonymous man in the street on TV just after the Dade County Ordinance spurred by the Sarah Palin of her day, Anita Bryant.

Thank you Ken, we sometime forget that the Holiday was established to honor the vision, dreams and spirit of an American who happened to be black. Instead of looking at the skin color and it boggles my mind why folks forget about his message of inclusion.

My godfather was part of the legal team that argued many of the now historical cases that, along with Dr. King forced us to question equality – if we were created equal, why were we not treated equally?

I honor the man, beliefs and commitment of Dr. King, by remembering him on the day fought by so many to remember him as well as in my everyday life. I can dare to dream and be because of Americans like Dr. King and you Ken who “fight the good fight of faith”.

I wish I had time to celebrate all holidays properly, and I wish I had time to attend a Dr. King celebration–complete with wonderful Gospel music. Dr. King was an amazing person. I don’t see Mr. Obama as a black president, but I’m thrilled for black persons he is president (if that makes sense) because it means so much to them.

Sober up folks. The powers that be aren’t the democrats or the republicans. Dr. King wasn’t killed by the guy they convicted and he could have been killed by a jealous husband for all we know. He had enough sense to know right from wrong and apply it in ways that produced results unlike today’s political opportunists who are in it for profits, notoriety and are used as tools. Dr.King probably is rolling in his grave and not because people are supposedly being denied their voting rights. More likely he would be troubled by the tremendous poverty of the soul of many minority people in this country who were led astray in various ways and embraced a culture of violence, homophobia, racism, misogyny and unwed child rearing. And if Obama is a result of Dr. King I’m not sure that’s something he would be proud of. Dr. King said that people should be judged on their character. Obama is a shifty character that couldn’t hold a candle to Dr. King. Obama is a liar. Don’t feel compelled to connect the legacy of Dr. King to Obama.

I am surprised at the number of people who would otherwise be considered “liberal” or progressive who have a problem with President Obama. I could list dozens of major accomplishments of this president who has been forced to govern with two hands and a foot tied behind his back….thanks to Tea Bag Republicans who made it their sole mission to make him fail. That was a quote from Republicans before he was even sworn in.

Lyndon Johnson had to deal with 2 or 3 fillibusters during his presidency. Pres. Obama? Over 350!! They could care less if the country implodes, the unemployed get jobs, people who are sick get healthcare paid for or we shore up our crumbling infrastructure. What they did to the country under Bill Clinton, who by the way eliminated our national deficit and created budget surpluses, was minor compared to the havoc they are wreaking under our current President.

I hardly think that disagreeing with Obama on any number of issues is “shameful”. Blowing up Pakistani grandmothers in front of their grandchildren is, however, shameful. ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/us-drone-strikes-killed-grandmother_n_4140029.html
Giving Obama a pass because he is African American and progressive on SOME issues is really not smart. I would not give any President a pass on promoting American imperialism. Why should he be any different?

Exactly. It would be wonderful if we simply focused upon our common humanity and changing the so-called “American Dream” from a platitude to reality, for which Dr. King sacrificed so much, rather than making every damn thread a referendum on President Obama….sheesh.

I was raised by my parents to not be prejudiced against anyone unless they hurt you in some way & yes I’m white. Therefore please believe me when I say that Dr. King was the bravest man I ever saw & every year when I hear the “I have a dream!” speech,I cry like a baby because of the total injustice given to people of color throughout history not just on that special day set to remind us of how we treat other human beings but every single day when anyone is treated unfairly. I sit here writing this & the tears flow freely because I know with God & Jesus in heaven everyone is happy there=====thank you for being you Dr.King! And thanks Ken for this very nice article reminding of Dr. King,not just today,but for always.

I 100% SUPPORT you in this blog (as we’ve discussed privately), but I take issue with the line, today, ” the racially integrated society we have today”.

We, as a society, are not integrated. We are de-segregated, or, rather, in the process of being desegregated. We are a lot further along the way than we once were, of course. But we’re no where near where we need to be. The black kids still sit together in the cafeteria.

So, we are a “work in progress.”

MLK Day has become an ongoing, evolving celebration of this dynamic, changing situation.

Compared to China, where, as you know, I lived for 10 years, we are a lot further along the way. In fact, we are a lot further along the way than most of the world.
Our diversity and our ability to educate (freely) all peoples is at the root and core our supremacy over a their system.

But that promise of free education, made to whites and free blacks, is now under threat. Brown v. Board, where I grew up, in Greenburgh, New York, (District 8 prior to 1968 when Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and Greenburgh Central 7 after the assassination — the result of a successful merger) was an article of faith.

Our governor, for all his shortcomings, in his advocacy for mergers, understands this. He can sell the promise of cost-savings, but we all know the resistance to mergers is not just about money. It never only was. It’s about autonomy and a local power to preserve what was. It’s about parents who don’t want their children to take long bus rides. It’s about people unwilling to make a sacrifice. It’s also about color.

If we are truly going to get to the promised land we – WE – not somebody else – have to get the numbers in our cities to the same level as our towns. We have to address “the ghetto” be that white or black or yellow or brown.

Our numbers – many Americans believe – are below those of China and Shanghai, where I lived, when it comes to education. This is not true. The numbers (test scores) are ALL of us compared to something else. Take out the unfunded and poorly funded and under and low and less prepared schools populated by the black and brown and yellow of us and – miraculously – we’re equal.

E pluribus unum means “out of many, one.” Not out of some who are doing well and not out of others. No man is free until all men are free. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice every w

I 100% SUPPORT you in this blog (as we’ve discussed privately), but I take issue with the line, today, ” the racially integrated society we have today”.

We, as a society, are not integrated. We are de-segregated, or, rather, in the process of being desegregated. We are a lot further along the way than we once were, of course. But we’re no where near where we need to be. The black kids still sit together in the cafeteria.

So, we are a “work in progress.”

MLK Day has become an ongoing, evolving celebration of this dynamic, changing situation.

Compared to China, where, as you know, I lived for 10 years, we are a lot further along the way. In fact, we are a lot further along the way than most of the world.
Our diversity and our ability to educate (freely) all peoples is at the root and core our supremacy over a their system.

But that promise of free education, made to whites and free blacks, is now under threat. Brown v. Board, where I grew up, in Greenburgh, New York, (District 8 prior to 1968 when Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and Greenburgh Central 7 after the assassination — the result of a successful merger) was an article of faith.

Our governor, for all his shortcomings, in his advocacy for mergers, understands this. He can sell the promise of cost-savings, but we all know the resistance to mergers is not just about money. It never only was. It’s about autonomy and a local power to preserve what was. It’s about parents who don’t want their children to take long bus rides. It’s about people unwilling to make a sacrifice. It’s also about color.

If we are truly going to get to the promised land we – WE – not somebody else – have to get the numbers in our cities to the same level as our towns. We have to address “the ghetto” be that white or black or yellow or brown.

Our numbers – many Americans believe – are below those of China and Shanghai, where I lived, when it comes to education. This is not true. The numbers (test scores) are ALL of us compared to something else. Take out the unfunded and poorly funded and under and low and less prepared schools populated by the black and brown and yellow of us and – miraculously – we’re equal.

E pluribus unum means “out of many, one.” Not out of some who are doing well and not out of others. No man is free until all men are free. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice every where. This, is what we celebrate today. Let’s make it also a celebration tomorrow.

We are further along than we were Bill. And yes, much to be done. I have no data to support this, but I wonder what the statistics are on ‘white flight’. My family experienced the impact of that in our Queens neighborhood in the early-mid 60’s.

…and one more NECESSARY voice that needs to be heard in this discussion.

That of one Mr. Hamden Rice.

Mon Aug 29, 2011 at 08:24 AM PDT
Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did

by Hamden Rice

This will be a very short diary. It will not contain any links or any scholarly references. It is about a very narrow topic, from a very personal, subjective perspective.

The topic at hand is what Martin Luther King actually did, what it was that he actually accomplished.

What most people who reference Dr. King seem not to know is how Dr. King actually changed the subjective experience of life in the United States for African Americans. And yeah, I said for African Americans, not for Americans, because his main impact was his effect on the lives of African Americans, not on Americans in general. His main impact was not to make white people nicer or fairer. That’s why some of us who are African Americans get a bit possessive about his legacy. Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy, despite what our civil religion tells us, is not color blind.

Head below the fold to read about what Martin Luther King, Jr. actually did.

I remember that many years ago, when I was a smartass home from first year of college, I was standing in the kitchen arguing with my father. My head was full of newly discovered political ideologies and black nationalism, and I had just read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, probably for the second time.

A bit of context. My father was from a background, which if we were talking about Europe or Latin America, we would call, “peasant” origin, although he had risen solidly into the working-middle class. He was from rural Virginia and his parents had been tobacco farmers. I spent two weeks or so every summer on the farm of my grandmother and step-grandfather. They had no running water, no gas, a wood burning stove, no bathtubs or toilets but an outhouse, potbelly stoves for heat in the winter, a giant wood pile, a smoke house where hams and bacon hung, chickens, pigs, semi wild housecats that lived outdoors, no tractor or car, but an old plow horse and plows and other horse drawn implements, and electricity only after I was about 8 years old. The area did not have high schools for blacks and my father went as far as the seventh grade in a one room schoolhouse. All four of his grandparents, whom he had known as a child, had been born slaves. It was mainly because of World War II and urbanization that my father left that life.

They lived in a valley or hollow or “holler” in which all the landowners and tenants were black. In the morning if you wanted to talk to cousin Taft, you would walk down to behind the outhouse and yell across the valley, “Heeeyyyy Taaaaft,” and you could see him far, far in the distance, come out of his cabin and yell back.

On the one hand, this was a pleasant situation because they lived in isolation from white people. On the other hand, they did have to leave the valley to go to town where all the rigid rules of Jim Crow applied. By the time I was little, my people had been in this country for six generations (going back, according to oral rendering of our genealogy, to Africa Jones and Mama Suki), much more under slavery than under freedom, and all of it under some form of racial terrorism, which had inculcated many humiliating behavior patterns.

Anyway, that’s background. I think we were kind of typical as African Americans in the pre-civil rights era went.

So anyway, I was having this argument with my father about Martin Luther King and how his message was too conservative compared to Malcolm X’s message. My father got really angry at me. It wasn’t that he disliked Malcolm X, but his point was that Malcolm X hadn’t accomplished anything as Dr. King had.

I was kind of sarcastic and asked something like, so what did Martin Luther King accomplish other than giving his “I have a dream speech.”

Before I tell you what my father told me, I want to digress. Because at this point in our amnesiac national existence, my question pretty much reflects the national civic religion view of what Dr. King accomplished. He gave this great speech. Or some people say, “he marched.” I was so angry at Mrs. Clinton during the primaries when she said that Dr. King marched, but it was LBJ who delivered the Civil Rights Act.

At this point, I would like to remind everyone exactly what Martin Luther King did, and it wasn’t that he “marched” or gave a great speech.

My father told me with a sort of cold fury, “Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south.”

Please let this sink in and and take my word and the word of my late father on this. If you are a white person who has always lived in the U.S. and never under a brutal dictatorship, you probably don’t know what my father was talking about.

But this is what the great Dr. Martin Luther King accomplished. Not that he marched, nor that he gave speeches.

He ended the terror of living as a black person, especially in the south.

I’m guessing that most of you, especially those having come fresh from seeing The Help, may not understand what this was all about. But living in the south (and in parts of the midwest and in many ghettos of the north) was living under terrorism.

It wasn’t that black people had to use a separate drinking fountain or couldn’t sit at lunch counters, or had to sit in the back of the bus.

You really must disabuse yourself of this idea. Lunch counters and buses were crucial symbolic planes of struggle that the civil rights movement used to dramatize the issue, but the main suffering in the south did not come from our inability to drink from the same fountain, ride in the front of the bus or eat lunch at Woolworth’s.

It was that white people, mostly white men, occasionally went berserk, and grabbed random black people, usually men, and lynched them. You all know about lynching. But you may forget or not know that white people also randomly beat black people, and the black people could not fight back, for fear of even worse punishment.

This constant low level dread of atavistic violence is what kept the system running. It made life miserable, stressful and terrifying for black people.

White people also occasionally tried black people, especially black men, for crimes for which they could not conceivably be guilty. With the willing participation of white women, they often accused black men of “assault,” which could be anything from rape to not taking off one’s hat, to “reckless eyeballing.”

This is going to sound awful and perhaps a stain on my late father’s memory, but when I was little, before the civil rights movement, my father taught me many, many humiliating practices in order to prevent the random, terroristic, berserk behavior of white people. The one I remember most is that when walking down the street in New York City side by side, hand in hand with my hero-father, if a white woman approached on the same sidewalk, I was to take off my hat and walk behind my father, because he had been taught in the south that black males for some reason were supposed to walk single file in the presence of any white lady.

This was just one of many humiliating practices we were taught to prevent white people from going berserk.

I remember a huge family reunion one August with my aunts and uncles and cousins gathered around my grandparents’ vast breakfast table laden with food from the farm, and the state troopers drove up to the house with a car full of rifles and shotguns, and everyone went kind of weirdly blank. They put on the masks that black people used back then to not provoke white berserkness. My strong, valiant, self-educated, articulate uncles, whom I adored, became shuffling, Step-N-Fetchits to avoid provoking the white men. Fortunately the troopers were only looking for an escaped convict. Afterward, the women, my aunts, were furious at the humiliating performance of the men, and said so, something that even a child could understand.

This is the climate of fear that Dr. King ended.

If you didn’t get taught such things, let alone experience them, I caution you against invoking the memory of Dr. King as though he belongs exclusively to you and not primarily to African Americans.

The question is, how did Dr. King do this—and of course, he didn’t do it alone.

(Of all the other civil rights leaders who helped Dr. King end this reign of terror, I think the most under appreciated is James Farmer, who founded the Congress of Racial Equality and was a leader of nonviolent resistance, and taught the practices of nonviolent resistance.)

So what did they do?

They told us: Whatever you are most afraid of doing vis-a-vis white people, go do it. Go ahead down to city hall and try to register to vote, even if they say no, even if they take your name down.

Go ahead sit at that lunch counter. Sue the local school board. All things that most black people would have said back then, without exaggeration, were stark raving insane and would get you killed.

If we do it all together, we’ll be okay.

They made black people experience the worst of the worst, collectively, that white people could dish out, and discover that it wasn’t that bad. They taught black people how to take a beating—from the southern cops, from police dogs, from fire department hoses. They actually coached young people how to crouch, cover their heads with their arms and take the beating. They taught people how to go to jail, which terrified most decent people.

And you know what? The worst of the worst, wasn’t that bad.

Once people had been beaten, had dogs sicced on them, had fire hoses sprayed on them, and been thrown in jail, you know what happened?

These magnificent young black people began singing freedom songs in jail.

That, my friends, is what ended the terrorism of the south. Confronting your worst fears, living through it, and breaking out in a deep throated freedom song. The jailers knew they had lost when they beat the crap out of these young Negroes and the jailed, beaten young people began to sing joyously, first in one town then in another. This is what the writer, James Baldwin, captured like no other writer of the era.

Please let this sink in. It wasn’t marches or speeches. It was taking a severe beating, surviving and realizing that our fears were mostly illusory and that we were free.

So yes, Dr. King had many other goals, many other more transcendent, non-racial, policy goals, goals that apply to white people too, like ending poverty, reducing the war-like aspects of our foreign policy, promoting the New Deal goal of universal employment, and so on. But his main accomplishment was ending 200 years of racial terrorism, by getting black people to confront their fears. So please don’t tell me that Martin Luther King’s dream has not been achieved, unless you knew what racial terrorism was like back then and can make a convincing case you still feel it today. If you did not go through that transition, you’re not qualified to say that the dream was not accomplished.

That is what Dr. King did—not march, not give good speeches. He crisscrossed the south organizing people, helping them not be afraid, and encouraging them, like Gandhi did in India, to take the beating that they had been trying to avoid all their lives.

Once the beating was over, we were free.

It wasn’t the Civil Rights Act, or the Voting Rights Act or the Fair Housing Act that freed us. It was taking the beating and thereafter not being afraid. So, sorry Mrs. Clinton, as much as I admire you, you were wrong on this one. Our people freed ourselves and those Acts, as important as they were, were only white people officially recognizing what we had done.

I was in the Central 7 School district with Bill and it was the most amazing experience and experiment. I am of Arab back ground and at that time my family was the only one in the district who was. Unfortunately, my family succumbed to white flight in the early 1980’s. It hurt my brothers who suddenly had to choose what click to belong to: white or Italian, neither of which fit. It hurt one of my brothers dearly, because in Greenburgh Central 7 you could decide not to choose, you could be part of the cliques that were integrated. My brother was class president, captain of the swim team and had straight A’s. When we moved, he was lost and he lost everything. The pressures were not the same. Since this happened to someone in my family, I have always said that racism hurts white people, too, not just blacks.

Thank you, Bill. Mr. Rice is absolutely correct and absolutely on the mark. Jonathan Rieder’s book, “Gospel of Freedom” is full of references from tapes of actual sermons and meetings in which Dr. King explained exactly that to those who would follow him so they knew they would have to literally put their lives on the line. He said many times that he did not expect to live to see his efforts bear fruit and he frankly told his supporters they had to be willing to die. White businesses who wanted to desegregate faced retaliation, including violent beatings, which squeezed the white moderates out of the movement. That is what the South was like in those days and conservative commenters on this thread refuse to acknowledge that reality.

Why do you think these ‘haters’ and ‘retrogrades’ are bothering to read my blog? It seems they are obsessed with wanting to denigrate my position or perspective as a black person with a forum. They just CANNOT handle it.

Ken, the same thing happens on the political blogs, Animal Rights blog, Libby Post’s blog and probably every other one where someone with a center-to-left of center perspective posts…I’m beginning to believe it’s a combination of maladjusted malcontents with nothing better to do and professional trolls who are perhaps paid by the Far Right Establishment to stir up trouble.

Absolutely MLK Day is not just a “day for black people.” People often forget that while he is best known for tearing down the walls of government sanctioned racial segregation, King stood equally as a champion for the economically disenfranchised, regardless of race. Lots of people try to say what he would do if he were alive today, what his position would be on various 21st century issues. It’s hard to say for certain whether he would have been a champion for LGBT rights – much of the divide in this issue is generational in nature, after all – or whether he would be like Obama who initially did not support marriage equality then later “evolved” on the issue. Things like that are all just hypothetical.

One thing we can say with near certainty, however, based on the social-justice elements of his movement, is that he would be aghast to see the level of inequality and the widening economic rift between classes in present day America. Many on the right have tried recently to twist King’s words to show that he would support conservative economic policies that are cloaked as “empowering” when in fact the move to eliminate food stamps, unemployment insurance or block an increase in the minimum wage are thinly veiled attempts by the rich to become richer at the expense of the most vulnerable classes. We can’t say where he would stand in the marriage equality debate these days – it just was not yet an issue in his time – but we can say with confidence that he would remain a champion of the poor against the extreme-right forces that want to further bury the working class.

As someone who is frequently the target of intolerant left wingers’ false charges of racism, I note that Dr King was a great member of the same race as all people are members of: the human race. Some day, those, who make such false charges against others, may too share MLK’s dream, as I do, that we judge and be judged on the contents of our characcters, rather than on the colors of our skin.

Funny. You completely nullify your attempt to unify us as “all one race” by starting your first sentence with polarizing references. We’re all one as long as we all mindlessly accept the right-wing agenda you embrace, it seems.

Actually, Mickey, a lot of people, from all racial makeups, remember Dr. King as a proponent of equality, not preference, payback or “special handling or consideration.

It’s likely he understood, when everyone is treated equally to fair access to the same opportunities, EVERYONE has a better chance to survive and prosper, in the long run. It seems the root message behind, “a man should be judged by the contents of his character, rather than the color of his skin”, seems to suggest the objective would be for skin color to fade away and become completely immaterial, to serve as neither an advantage or disadvantage.

It seems Dr. King believed there were inherent talents in each of us, regardless of our outer shell, and we would all be better off if everybody enjoyed the same access to opportunities to maximize whatever talents they have. I don’t recall any suggestion that it would not still be the responsibility of the individual, given fair and equal access to opportunity, to develop whatever talents existed, to reap whatever benefits those talents might provide. Perhaps your recollection is different.

Exactly what “right wing agenda” are you so cautious and concerned about, and who is “mindlessly accepting”, what?

Albert J, Are you in denial that there is still a great deal of injustice based on race in this country. Dr. King’s dream has made strides of course, but there is still a large portion of this nation who don’t wish equality. They are often..almost always..members of the right wing political perspective, those same individuals who support restricting voting rights for minorities. You cannot sit there and believe that black Americans enjoy the same access to opportunities that you do. It is a systemic racism that black people see everyday, but which you apparently are incapable of..or don’t wish to see. Maybe it’s time for you to learn.

By the way, Albert J, you have a habit of constantly jumping to the defense of “realist” on numerous occasions, on several blogs, whenever I or anyone else posts a comment criticizing something in “realist”‘s comment.

And to elaborate a bit on Ken’s point, Albert J, if you study Dr. King’s speeches and read people who have spent years studying him, you will find that this oft-quoted statement from the “I have a dream” speech, examined in full context, indicated that Dr. King was listing his ideals; in other words things that were not a part of the reality of American society but part of his vision for a better society in the future: e.g., white and black children playing together and learning together and, in the instance you cite, a world in which people would NOT be judged on the basis of the color of their skin, but the content of their character. This ideal, with which I fully agree and honestly strive to apply in my personal dealings, is commonly cherry-picked by the proponents of the right-wing agenda of which you profess ignorance, to justify opposition to any form of aid to minority populations, any type of social program targeted to eliminate poverty which may impact people of color because of their disproportionate representation among the poor, or efforts to demonize black people who break the law or fail to conform to commonly accepted social norms, with no equal and opposite condemnation of white people who behave the same way? Did you ever hear of a white violent criminal being referred to as a “thug”, for example? In sum, the phrase is an admirable ideal which I fully support, but we’re not there yet, and the left wing is certainly not the sole reason for that.

But Albert at the same time is all for tearing down the opportunities and the systems in place to ensure equal access to those opportunities – regardless of race. The gutting of access to higher education, the elimination of social services, and the class warfare against working Americans are all things that he thinks are okay. So, equal opportunity as long as you’re a member of the one percent. The only place where race comes into this equation is that minorities tend to disproportionately make up the classes that depend on these services to afford them the opportunities that wealthier Americans have, but plenty of white people and minorities of non-African heritage also depend on these opportunities that the rich simply don’t care about because they can pay for it at the expense of the working classes.

It seems a constant questions remains, “is the glass half empty, or half full”. I understand and accept we, as a society are a long way from achieving perfections, but I also recognize we have improved much that was wrong, over a reasonably short period of time and I submit a concentrated focus on that which has yet to happen only serves to retard progress towards the objective.

There will ALWAYS be some who resist the tide, but suggesting, “there is still a large portion of this nation who don’t wish equality. They are often..almost always..members of the right wing political perspective”, seems like a flagrant oversimplification and exaggeration, that tends to provide unnecessary drag, to the movement towards progress.

I most certainly do believe, “that black Americans enjoy the same access to opportunities that you do” and offer as proof of that belief the hundreds of thousands of black Americans who have seized on available opportunities, invested the effort to maximise them and have attained dramatic improvement in their lives and situations.

Nobody, including Dr. King suggested adjustment would be easy or not require significant effort. He was however, quick to point out that the basic talent, inherent skill necessary to succeed and perhaps most important the personal desire to succeed were as deeply imbedded in all Americans regardless of skin pigmentation.

Yes, there is still injustice, but far, far less than existed even in the recent past and the serious effort to reduce, correct and eliminate, what you suggest is “systemic racism” has been and is being purged from our systems at an ever accelerating pace.

The objective pointed towards was designated as EVERY American having equal access to whatever opportunities are available to every OTHER American, without skin color or other targeted characteristics providing additional advantage, or disadvantage. That does not eliminate the necessity of subsequent planning, effort, desire and preparation that have always been requirements of seizing and developing available opportunities into tangible success, which is not, nor will ever be guaranteed, for ANYONE.

For the record, Mickey, when “Realist” or any other blog contributor posts a thesis, I deem worthy of my support or endorsement, I reserve the EXCLUSIVE right to decide whether to support it, or not. When anyone, including you, chooses to challenge challenge the ideas of others by way of ridiculous “cheap-shots”, childish insults or lame attempts to be glib or clever, I may elect to respond to those attacks, or support the initial presentation, as I see fit.

Based solely on the quality of your observations, Mickey, you are not yet competent to lecture me, or anyone, on your general observations, which are, at best, myopic. Perhaps expanding your field of vision, as you mature, will provide you with the opportunity to garner a broader, more inclusive perspective. Of course once again, success in that endeavor, unfortunately, does not eliminate the necessity of subsequent planning, effort, desire and preparation that have always been requirements of seizing and developing available opportunities into tangible success, which is not, nor will ever be guaranteed, for ANYONE about ANYTHING.

“..and I submit a concentrated focus on that which has yet to happen only serves to retard progress towards the objective.”

Wonderful. Proof positive that you would have disapproved of Dr. King going to Montgomery for the bus boycott or Birmingham to integrate bathrooms, lunch counters and water fountains. “It’s not time yet. Wait”

“For the record”, I don’t give a tinker’s damn what a loutish jerk like you thinks of me or my opinions. Others can judge you and me if they so desire. For my part, one once-celled organism at the bottom of the ocean matters more to me than the likes of you or whatever you feel you have to say. Enjoy the day, Albert J.

“Troll” would probably be a better term. Bamster probably bothers to read this blog because he’s an angry bigot who’s drawn to posts that are racially themed just so he can make blanket hateful statements.

“If MLK were alive today, we’d be…..”
If MLK were alive today, he’d have been with us, preaching, leading, cajoling the ruling classes, etc., for 40 years. OUR situation today would not be like it is today because of his, and countless others influenced by 40 more years of his preaching, leading, etc.
Would we have our first black president? Maybe, maybe someone different, maybe our second or third. We can’t tell how much different we would be today, had MLK (and more people directly taught, preached, cajoled by him) been around these past 40+ years.
The best we can do is move forward as if he were here, preaching leading, cajoling US ALL to be better human beings that we are now.
This is what we can take — and insist others also take — from his preaching, leading, cajoling: Be the best human being you can be and pass it on.

Thanks for this post. I used to work in another government agency who allowed me, as a member of the AAAC to take the month of February to each day post information on Blacks who have impacted our society. I was honored to contribute in that fashion for several years. I posted the I Have A Dream speech in its entirety (in written form). I for one had never read it all. Surprisingly, the majority of the commenters were white, actually this was the case throughout my foray. They were very appreciative of the effort and the historical perspective. My black peers were mainly silent. I found this to be quite eye opening to say the least.

Now, the Martin Luther King statue in the Lincoln Park off Morton Avenue, which NYS marches to on the MLK Day Celebration (is it still going on??) to me, looks like a caricature. I despise it. He looks like he is going start singing Mammy at any given moment.

In 2011 I was afforded the opportunity to go to Washington, DC again (I was there on January 20, 2009. This time to walk the Mall and to mainly see the Martin Luther King Monument that you have a picture of in your column. I came upon it, after walking around having seen the Roosevelt Display (which was quite nice). I froze, it is AMAZING! What an honor for Dr. King. I took several pictures of it from all angles, the best one is from the front, a bit too the side where one can see the sheer height of it as well as the two stone walls from which he appears to walk through. The size of it alone is awe inspiring, but the likeness is uncanny. It brought chills, tears, pride, all sorts of feelings.

It is a sight to behold….in person.

Thanks again for your blog, I read it whenever I can.

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